Review Tuesday: Tracfone Samsung T404G

Out with the old, in with the new

I am not a destructive guy. I take care of my stuff and, usually, it all holds up for a quite a while. Recently I decided it's time to upgrade my cellphone. My old Motorola W370 was still in great shape, but I find myself texting more and more often. As a result, the old numbered buttons were getting pretty annoying. So I upgraded to the Samsung T404G.

The T404G is a "slider phone" and was only recently added to the Tracfone line-up. I don't use my phones a whole hell of a lot, so prepaid is the way for me. I figure I pay about $6 / month this way. Find a better deal that that!

At the time that I'm writing this, I have only had the phone for less than a week. I got FIVE DAYS from the first charge, and I really put a lot of miles on that charge. The slider QWERTY keyboard is very comfortable for my hands to use. The screen is only a little larger than what I was used to, which is fine by me. It seems to be able to bring in signal better than the W370. and that one had pretty great reception. The phone aspect is pretty good. You can be heard, and you can hear, very clearly. I haven't tried to go on the internet, and I have no intentions of doing so. However, I have emailed and texted enough times to know it works, and works pretty well. The 2 MP camera is okay. As usual with low res cams, it has a pretty slow shutter and pics can easily end up out of focus, or dark. I'm not sure if I've taken a pic yet that I'm happy with. But if I wanted good pics, I'd use a DIGITAL CAMERA.

The only aspect I haven't gotten to work yet is the memory card. It has a micro-SD slot that can handle up to 4 gigs. But when I try to access it, I get the message NOT ALLOWED. What's that about? Similarly, I noticed that with the W370, it had a USB port, but Tracfone wouldn't let you access the phone regardless of having the drivers or not!

So far, I'd say that I'm pleased with this phone. There are some accessories out there already for it to make it more personalized and fun. I got a screen protector and a case for mine. Considering that my old phone lasted about five years, I foresee years of use ahead of me with this T404G.